Life-Cycle Cost Analysis of Alternative Reinforcement Materials for Bridge Superstructures Considering Cost and Maintenance Uncertainties

AbstractA life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) was conducted on prestressed concrete bridge superstructures using carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) bars and strands. Traditional reinforcement materials of uncoated steel with cathodic protection and epoxy-coated steel were also considered for compari...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of materials in civil engineering 2012-04, Vol.24 (4), p.373-380
Main Authors: Eamon, Christopher D, Jensen, Elin A, Grace, Nabil F, Shi, Xiuwei
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Bridges
Bridges (structures)
Building economics. Cost
Buildings. Public works
Carbon fiber reinforced plastics
Computation methods. Tables. Charts
Concrete bridges
Cost analysis
Durability. Pathology. Repairing. Maintenance
Exact sciences and technology
Life cycle costs
Reinforcement
Repair (reinforcement, strenthening)
Structural analysis. Stresses
Superstructures
Technical Papers
Traffic engineering
Traffic flow
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:AbstractA life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) was conducted on prestressed concrete bridge superstructures using carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) bars and strands. Traditional reinforcement materials of uncoated steel with cathodic protection and epoxy-coated steel were also considered for comparison. A series of deterministic LCCAs were first conducted to identify a range of expected cost outcomes for different bridge spans and traffic volumes. Then, a probabilistic LCCA was conducted on selected structures that included activity timing and cost random variables. It was found that although more expensive initially, the use of CFRP reinforcement has the potential to achieve significant reductions in life-cycle cost, having a 95% probability to be the least expensive alternative beginning at year 23–77 after initial construction, depending on the bridge case considered. In terms of life-cycle cost, the most effective use of CFRP reinforcement was found to be for an AASHTO beam bridge in a high traffic volume area.
ISSN:0899-1561
1943-5533
DOI:10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0000398